Around One Cactus: Owls, Bats and Leaping Rats

by Anthony D. Fredericks

This wonderful book is natural science - in this case, about desert animals - with a flair. A boy walks up to an impressive saguaro cactus and wonders who could be living on this arid ground? As night falls, he walks away. And then the place comes alive! A haven for creatures in a waterless land. The entertaining, repetitive rhyme is an attention-grabbing read-aloud that culminates in successful learning. Field Notes at the end of the book describe the animals in detail and include an unusual fact.

Genres: Animals, Nature, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Science

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) is one of the outlining plants of the Sonoran Desert. These plants are outsized, tree-like columnar cacti that grow branches (or arms) as they age, although some never grow arms. During sunshine hours, a child sees a saguaro cactus standing unaccompanied and assumes that there is nothing else to perceive in the dehydrated desert.

Fredericks and DiRubbio show a night-time alteration, a scene that comes animated with assorted eerie, crawly, enthralling creatures.

The genuineness of a multifarious ecosystem is made vibrant through rhyming verse and pulsating illustrations.

The animal life in and around the cactus includes a scorpion, rattlesnake, owl, and Gila monster, which the author observes are there to “play or prey.”

The picture book’s field-notes section provides abundance of information on the animals, including the fact that all of them can be found in the Sonoran Desert.

[Luann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This caught my attention because of the illustrations. There is an especially gorgeous one of saguaro cactus, a boy, and several desert creatures silhouetted against a sunset. But once I started reading, I wasn't very thrilled with the text. I don't always like rhyming text, and while this is pretty well done, I also didn't like the use of repeating lines that add on with each new animal introduced. The combination of rhyming and repeating text makes it feel like this was written for very young children. Yet the vocabulary used is clearly for older children. (In fact, the AR reading level is 6.1 - which is sixth grade.) The field notes at the end are a bit overwhelming with their detail after the sparse detail given in the actual text of the book. I did like the inclusion of a "fantastic fact" about each of the desert animals mentioned. Even though the illustrations are eye-catching and very nice, I think there are better books about there for teaching the desert habitat. (Two stars for the text, four for the illustrations.)

[Sunday · Rating 2 out of 5]

A cumulative rhyme that creates a vivid picture of the saguaro cactus and the animals that live in or nearby the cactus.

CAUTION: At first I thought this was about how the cactus is a habitat for the animals or that somehow they depend on it, but on closer reading (including "field notes" in the back), I realize that only two of the featured animals rely on the saguaro cactus. While not entirely sure, given the facts in the book, I could draw the conclusion that the other animals featured may only live near this particular cactus incidentally.

ANOTHER NOTE OF CAUTION: There is also a repeating line "Beside the cactus tall and grand, a haven for creatures in a waterless land" - which may be misleading for our young learners. There is in fact water in the Sonoran Desert including fresh water that is underground and tapped by the Saguaro cactus as described in the following excerpt from the U.S. National Park Service's site:
The cactus will send a large, single taproot straight down into the soil to a depth of about 5 feet. This taproot gives the cactus access to water that is stored deep underground. (Source: nps.gov, search "saguaro cactus"). Young children are capable of understanding this concept - if presented in a similar fashion with language play, repetition, etc.

This book is out of print but still available on Kindle and YouTube.

[Rebel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This looks like my backyard!

[Rose]

591.7 Fre

[Zora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture book. Read aloud to a kid, who was okay with it (thus four stars) but not thrilled. Gorgeous illustrations and accurate.